Ban on taking horses and mules on Kedarnath route continues
Ban on taking horses and mules on Kedarnath route continues
Dehradun, The ban on taking horses and mules on the Kedarnath pilgrimage route after 14 animals died of an infectious virus in two days will continue for the time being, a top official said on Wednesday.
With increasing infection among horses and mules in the Kedar Valley, local people, horse-mule operators and other organisations have requested an extension of the ban, State Animal Husbandry Secretary BVRC Purushottam told reporters.
The decision on extending the ban for a longer period will be taken by the district administration depending on the circumstances, he said.
A 24-hour ban was imposed on the use of horses and mules on the Kedarnath route on Monday evening after eight horses and mules died on the route on May 4 and six the day after.
The ban was extended for another 24 hours on Tuesday as experts tried to ascertain the cause of the animal deaths in large numbers in just two days.
Prima facie, these deaths were caused by 'diarrhea' and 'acute colic', Purushottam said.
Samples collected from these horses have been sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh for a detailed report, he said.
In view of the seriousness of the matter, a team of more than 22 doctors has been deployed on the Yatra route.
Even after lifting of the ban, unhealthy horses and mules will not be allowed to walk on the yatra route, while healthy horses will be allowed to operate only after they test negative for any infectious virus, Purushottam said.
He said that a month ago, samples were collected from horses and mules in two villages of Rudraprayag district, in which symptoms of equine influenza were found in some horses. After this, he said, a record 16,000 horses were screened in 26 days till April 30.
Out of these, sero samples of 152 horses and mules were found positive but their RT-PCR tests were found negative.
To reach Kedarnath Dham, situated at a height of more than 11,500 feet, one has to cover about 16 kilometres on foot. However, some devotees take the help of pithus , palanquins, horses or mules to traverse this uphill path.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
